Passengers
by LadyPiratte
Summary: A certain companion on board Serenity has a secret, a secret that the Alliance has come to collect. They've picked up a woman who could be their way out of the whole mess. Or quite possbily their undoing.
1. Opening

**OPENING**

_Location: Vire_

A woman with average height and cropped brown hair stalked through the halls of the modest but sizable manor house. Those in the hall moved out the way of herself and her two companions, a man and woman who were heavily armed. While she was normally fairly congenial, the woman didn't say a word to anyone. She held up her hand for her companions to wait outside when she got to her office.

It was a large space, decorated with artifacts from other moons and a glass case that held a special piece from the Earth-That-Was. The desk was facing the door, a heavy looking thing with several screens scattered on top of it. She slid into the leather chair behind it, letting the sun warm her back. With a fist, she punched a button and a man came up on one of the screens. "Tell me you know where she is."

"The last time anyone saw her, she was with your brother."

A growl started in her throat. "That doesn't inspire confidence, sergeant. Whoever these folks are, they're disrupting my peace and you know how I like my peace."

"We're doing our best."

"Well, you're best ain't-" She stopped when one of her companions, the man, opened the door. "What is it, Roy?"

"There's a man here to see you. Says you're expectin' him." Roy kept the door open only a crack. "Says his name is Malcolm Reynolds."

"Oh, right. Send him in." She waved Roy to let them in. Three people slipped by her large guard, one of them nearly the size of Roy but nowhere near as intelligent looking. The other was an amazon of a woman with dark skin and a grim expression. Reynolds was easy to spot; he was wearing a brown coat.

After looking her visitors up and down, she turned her attention back to the sergeant on the screen. "You keep looking and when you find her, tell her this cage is better than the other." Then she hit the button and the man's face disappeared.

"Problems?" Reynolds arched an eyebrow.

"No, please sit, Captain. We have business to discuss." She waved to the two modest seats she kept in the room. The big man chose to stand.

"That we do, Ms. Stone."

"Adraidne, please. Now about those goods you're carrying. I trust they're in perfect shape. I don't pay for damaged goods." Adraidne told the captain, her tone even and business-like.

Reynolds smiled at her. "They are just as shiny as the day we got them. Not countin' the dust they collected sitting in my ship for so long."

Whatever he was trying to hint at, Adraidne wasn't going to take the bait. It would just draw out the exchange longer and she had quite the matter to get back to. "Now the agreed upon price-" She didn't get to finish. Her door was thrown open and a squad of men stormed the room, guns pointed at every one of them. Reynolds two people had their guns up, ready to fire at the intruders. Adraidne raised her hands in surrender. "What is this?"

"Adraidne Stone, you are hearby to surrender to the Alliance and come in for questioning."

The three smugglers looked at her but she was already opening her drawer and sliding her chair back toward the window. The others took her cue, moving back with her. "Oh, boys," she scolded, "like hell I am." Then she pulled her gun, shot and smashed through the window.

It was a six foot drop to the ground, but nothing none of them couldn't handle. They hit the ground and rolled, getting to their feet with the ease of people who knew how to run from the law. Adraidne pushed herself into a sprint. "Reynolds, where's your ship?"

"My ship? Gorram hell, what do you want that for?" He turned and shot back at the Alliance swat team.

The woman had a com to her lips with her free hand. "Wash?"

"Wash is in the wind." Came the eerie voice back.

"River, get Serenity ready to fly."

"We're trusting our lives to that gorram girl?" The big man shot one of the swat men in the chest.

"Jayne, not now!" Reynolds scolded the big man.

Adraidne let them squabble. All she cared about was the ship coming into her view and getting onto it. Then she was going to find Hector's spirit and strangle him and then she was going to find that companion and chew her head off. But first things first, she had to put some distance between her and the Alliance; and she had to get her moon back.

She didn't stop when her feet hit the metal ramp. She didn't stop until she was halfway through the cargo hold and had two pairs of new eyes on her. A hiss and a whirl behind her told her that the ramp was closing. Finally she stopped to take her breathe. She came face to face with the end of a gun.

"I think we might need to have a bit of a chat, don't you think?" Reynolds was far from a happy captain.


	2. Welcome

TWO

_Location: Serenity, firefly class_

"Cap'n?" A sweet voice echoed in the cargo hold, full of questions. She was standing in the entrance of the medical bay, a well dressed man with her.

"I get," Adraidne put her hands in the air in a show of surrender, "that I owe quite a few explanations, Captain Reynolds, but at this point, I'm a bit baffled myself." And wasn't that the truth. Seeing the Alliance come for her wasn't entirely unexpected, given how Hector had died, but a bunch of SWAT bursting into the room does tend to make one a little edgy. "I don't have clue why they'd want me, minus a few illegal deals but…"

"The grand Alliance doesn't come after someone for deals," The gun wasn't moving. "Try again."

The amazon woman came up behind Reynolds, muttering something that Adraidne didn't quite pick up. Whatever she said, she had a feeling Adraidne owed her one. The gun went back to the holster and Adraidne felt a little better. "Listen, my brother was a chī gǒu shí who got mixed up in some Alliance business. I stuck my nose in it, that's all."

Reynolds laughed, a humorless sort of thing. "You here that? Well now I got the Alliance on my tail, Ms. Stone. Again."

"Captain, I-"

"Ms. Stone?" The well dressed man stepped forward and around the sweet voiced girl in the medical bay. Every eye turned him to, including Reynolds. "Uh," he went on, as if he knew what the captain's look meant, "Stone was the name of the captain who help River and I, that is, helped us get to Persephone."

Adraidne swiveled around. She assessed the well dressed man, taking him in head to toe. "Ah, right. You had that crazy sister. How is she by the way?" Her memory of helping the Tams was a little shaking. She'd gotten horrible ill and her second in command, Walter Ballisk, had been in charge. All she remembered was a few brief conversations.

"Woah, woah, woah. You know her?" The big man, Jayne stepped forward waving his gun between them.

"Know isn't entirely correct."

"Sounds like you know her, doc."

The Amazon glared at the burly man. "Jayne." Her tone was a warning and the man looked back at her like he wasn't quite sure what he'd done wrong.

"Ghosts, they always come back. They are always haunting." Her voice came from the top of the grid steps. She made her way slowly down the stairs, her feet bare, just like Adraidne remembered. The girl shared a look with Reynolds, a secret joke passing between them.

The captain walked over to her, "We need to send out-"

"The cry-babies and redirect the signal." She finished for him. Again, she smiled at the captain, like a little girl sharing a joke with her fun uncle.

Reynolds turned to her then, a hard look in his eyes. "You'll stay in your room until we sort this out. Don't think I won't turn you in if I have to." He stomped off, climbing up the stairs, clearly done with the whole situation.

The rest stared at her until the sweet voiced woman stepped forward, "I'm Kaylee. Welcome to Serenity."

Oh yes, welcome indeed.


End file.
